Dental Emergencies

As with all emergencies, dental emergencies tend to happen at an unexpected time. Dental emergencies also tend to involve pain, trauma, tears, and fear – no matter how young or old you are. Understanding what actually constitutes as a dental emergency and what to do should one occur is the best way to act promptly and appropriately during the situation. 

The most obvious dental emergency involves a tooth that has been knocked out of its socket. The situation is especially dire if the tooth involved is a permanent tooth. All teeth are connected to their lifeline through their roots which supply them with a constant blood supply. When a tooth is knocked out of its socket, it will immediately be cut off from its lifeline and will begin to die. If you have had a tooth knocked out, the first thing you should do is to try to gently place it back in its socket. This will encourage the tooth roots to reconnect themselves. If it is not possible to place the tooth in its socket, keep it moist in a small amount of milk or your own saliva and take it with you to the dentist. It is not always possible to save a tooth that has been knocked out, but with immediate intervention the chances are much greater. 

Other dental emergencies are often not as obvious as a knocked out tooth. In fact, these situations tend to get people into a great deal of trouble simply because many people overlook them. 

• A cracked or broken tooth
• A damaged dental bridge or crown
• A lost filling
• An infection or abscess around a tooth
• An injured jaw
• Dental bleeding
• Knocked out tooth
• Swelling inside the mouth
• Tooth pain
• Tooth sensitivity 

All of these require the intervention of your dentist in order to avoid invasive and expensive dental work. Many people wrongly assume that some of these issues will resolve themselves. While these may be non-urgent issues, meaning they can wait a day or two, they should never be ignored any longer than that in order or prevent serious emergency situations from getting worse. 

At Sycamore Hills Dentistry, we are here for all of your dental emergencies. Please contact us right away should a dental emergency arise!

Posted on behalf of Sycamore Hills Dentistry